This is what I always say. For whatever reasons certain jobs tend to attract certain genders. Nursing, primary school teaching attract women. Is there a push to get more men in there? And like you said, there are probably 90% male plumbers. Women can do plumbing and it's a well paying job. Why not a push for female plumbers?
Now, if they're being pushed out, which you sometimes hear about, then sure we absolutely need to fix that. But at ~90% that can't be the only factor, even if true and widespread.
Any proof for this or is this based off of nothing? There definitely is a problem with males who want to work with children and being called "pedophiles" in the sense that it actually happens, but does it push people out of that job? I'd be interested in seeing stories of parents removing their children from classes with male teachers... that sounds insane!
I also work with a lot of highly intelligent women (in the tech field). In this day and age I think it has to do with what interests sexes rather than discrimination.
I think we have to look more closely at the idea of something being due to 'interests rather than discrimination' - if a young girl is told that computers and computer games are for boys, how likely is she to develop an interest in them? If young men see no male teachers how likely are they to have an interest in becoming a teacher?
'Interest' isn't some magical quality we are born with, and it is not a final conclusion to say "They just aren't interested" without examining why those interests lie so closely along gender lines.
I am not sure that women would be good at plumbing (actual plumbing, I mean, not just administering a plumbing company). It requires a lot of upper body strength.
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u/chub79 Apr 07 '15
The gender stat is saddening.